Is change in the skyline and transit of San Francisco slowing down? (Los Angeles: 2014, city hall)

[AngusHsu]

The SF Giants ballpark transformed the South Beach neighborhood. I remember in 2009 the Rincon Hill and Millennium Towers going up and changing the skyline. Now we won't get the Transbay Terminal building for years to come. The muni metro extension through Chinatown is still many years away.

Compare that to other cities. NYC has multiple skyscrapers going up and more than just the One WTC. LA has a light rail line extending to Santa Monica as soon as 2014.

Why has San Francisco recently refused to change drastically?

[Ruth4Truth]

I'm not sure what you mean. Was there a decision made to leave SF as it is? Or did expensive projects get postponed, due to the expense? South of Market has been undergoing change for awhile, and still has a ways to go. Also there's a project in process to build a tech center with housing for tech workers toward the south of town, we had two threads on that. Maybe there's more going on than you're aware of? I don't see any refusal to change.

Be careful what you hope for, too. You might get more than you can handle.

[sav858]

I notice a good amount of construction going on right now. The Transbay Terminal is under construction, it may have gotten delayed but a lot of things did with the recession. The Muni extension to Chinatown actually started quite quickly after it was approved and even now I don't think they have for sure secured the federal funding portion of it.

These projects typically take years to complete as did pretty much every thing that went up in South Beach.

Sf is on a much smaller scale than LA and NYC too so I'm not sure why you would expect just as much activity to be going on as those two cities of all places.

[Ruth4Truth]

The ballpark and related changes really beautified that part of the city. I'm not sure change always works for the better, though.

What do you think of the Rincon Hill development? I'm told it's not really a functional neighborhood; no grocery stores and other amenities. I had the impression there were a lot of vacancies in the building, in part because of the lack of amenities. It seems it hasn't really taken off, yet.

[AngusHsu]

The next major skyscraper is part of the new Transbay Terminal and will open in 2017 or later. It only recently broke ground in March 2013.

Transbay Tower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SFNative87]

San Francisco put many of these projects on hold for several years when the economy tanked. Many cities did the same. Today San Francisco is trying to catch up and make up for lost time. In fact I read that San Francisco construction expenditures are almost the same as Los Angeles. Think about that- a city of 850,000 spending as much on building as a city of 3.8 million and 8X the size in area. SF is definitely going through a very visable building boom. Have you driven Northbound into downtown SF lately? The skyline is becoming huge for a city of 850,000! Look at all the construction by City Hall- not to mention what will be built between the financial district and Rincon- the Transbay Tower/Station. This isn't a small boom.

[wooliemonster]

Hopefully they can build enough 1000s of new residential units to take some pressure out of the valve.

[dragontales]

You want construction? Just check out the loud endless activity around 10th and Market. Buildings are going up like there is no tomorrow.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by AngusHsu

The SF Giants ballpark transformed the South Beach neighborhood. I remember in 2009 the Rincon Hill and Millennium Towers going up and changing the skyline. Now we won't get the Transbay Terminal building for years to come. The muni metro extension through Chinatown is still many years away.

Compare that to other cities. NYC has multiple skyscrapers going up and more than just the One WTC. LA has a light rail line extending to Santa Monica as soon as 2014.

Why has San Francisco recently refused to change drastically?

are you kidding? SF is extremely active right now, cranes everywhere.

[legal_eagle]

And apparently we will get to vote on whether to put up an condo complex on the Embarcadero at Washington .... VOTE NO!